Requesting God's Favor
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Introduction
Introduction
Why should we study the book of Habakkuk?
It is a portion of God’s Word.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
It is part of an often neglected group of Bible books. Habakkuk is one of the twelve, Minor Prophets, not minor in importance, but in size.
It presents questions that are timeless and boundless related to God’s justice, sovereignty and goodness.
It possesses insight on the eternal ways of God.
It proposes that trust is the correct response to God and his ways.
PRAY
A Prelude to a Song
A Prelude to a Song
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth - Habakkuk has moved to a place of special prayer unto the LORD. Certainly, his questioning and complaints were prayers, but he is now making supplication to the Yahweh.
Not only is chapter three a prayer, it is also a song. Shigionith is a musical term. We do not really know what it means. The singular form is found in Psalm 7 (A SHIGGAION OF DAVID). It seems to be telling the music leader the manner is which the this psalm should be played. This word’s primary function for us is to help us see that this prayer was to be sung.
A Proclamation of Respect
A Proclamation of Respect
O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, - Habakkuk addresses Yahweh, who is the covenant keeping God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
He recognizes the answers he has received from God concerning the discipline coming upon Judah
“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour. They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!”
And the eventual destruction of Babylon.
And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. “Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.” Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own— for how long?— and loads himself with pledges!” Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them. Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond. “Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. “Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink— you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness! You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory! The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. “What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”
O LORD, do I fear - Habakkuk confesses that word of who God is and the work God was doing terrified him. He was brought to a point of reverence and fear of God. Habakkuk possesses a holy, awe of God.
Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
A Plea for God’s Favor
A Plea for God’s Favor
In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy - Here’s Habakkuk’s request for mercy. He asks God to revive and make known his work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years refers to the time in which prophesies against Judah and Babylon were occurring. These are years in which God is expressing his wrath or anger. It is a time of judgement and condemnation.
God’s anger is his holiness, righteous response or reaction to the sinful, rebellious deeds of people and nations. One resource defines it in the following manner, “The punitive and vindicatory reaction, legitimate and controlled, yet awesomely emphatic, of God the righteous judge to unrighteousness in his human creatures.”
As these judgments are coming down, Habakkuk pleads with God to remember mercy. The work of mercy that Habakkuk wants to see revived and made known is that of God’s faithfulness to his people. He desires that God show his compassion. He wants to see the people of God revived by the presence of God.
One writer comments, “Lord, I didn’t think You were working. I didn’t think that You were doing anything, but I see now that You are moving in judgment. And since You are moving in judgment, remember to be merciful even to the Chaldeans, and be merciful to Your people.”
The biblical foundation for Habakkuk’s request is found in the covenants documents in Exodus and Deuteronomy.
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Practical Application
Practical Application
We should respond to God’s Word with prayer and praise. Habakkuk has heard some very difficult things from God, yet he draws near to the one who has brought him to fear.
We should have a healthy fear of God.
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
What does one who fears God do? They worship God for who he is. They seek to obey God’s Word. They realize God is working the world. They know God will hold everyone accountable for their actions. They have embraced a lifestyle of humility.
We should look to Jesus as God’s ultimate answer to Habakkuk’s prayer for mercy.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
STOP. THIS IS TERRIBLE IF THIS IS THE END.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
We should long for revival of the work of God among us and the rest of God’s people.
Iain Murray defines revival as a sovereign work of God, where His Spirit moves powerfully among His people, leading to deep conviction of sin, repentance, and renewed faith.
A heightened awareness of God's presence—people experience a profound sense of God's holiness.
Deep repentance and transformation—hearts are changed, leading to lasting spiritual renewal.
A return to biblical truth—Scripture takes on new authority and urgency.
A widespread impact—revival affects not just individuals but entire churches and societies.
